Castle on the Hill
by SomedayonBroadway
Summary: I'm on my way, I still remember those old, country lanes, when we did not know the answers and I miss the way you made me feel and it's real when we watched the sunset over the castle on the hill. There's no better feeling than going home. (Songfic)


**Hey guys! This is a story requested by a loyal and amazing reviewer of mine whom I have definitely not, nor ever will, forget about . I never forgot about this request but I didn't know this song very well so I decided to push it off till I had time to get to know this amazing, fansietastic song much better.**

 **I'm not gonna lie, I got home from school today, put this song on repeat and wrote this story all the way through in one sitting. It was fun. The best part of my high school year so far. I drown myself in music during the school year. It's what keeps me going.**

 **I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. It truly is a wonderful song and I feel in love with it and the idea that was given to me actually brought me to tears. So thank you Ed Sheeran for this beautiful song and here it is. :)**

 **Enjoy!**

New York is a loud, built up, populated place. People aspire to get there. They work their asses off for the penthouses and the nightlife. They fight for their place in the big city where they will likely never be found. But not them. They had their place. It would never be like it was. Those were just cherished memories that they couldn't wait to laugh about and cry about later. But for now, it was a good feeling to be going home.

 _When I was six years old I broke my leg_

There was a field. It wasn't known to many. It was just outside the city. It was a place where twenty orphaned, abandoned and abused kids could go to watch the sunset on top of a little castle that stuck out of the ground. And there was a little boy who had been running away from two older kids, laughing and tickling him, relentlessly. The boy wasn't expecting to trip and fall. And none of the twenty or so kids there were excepting to hear a snap.

 _I was running from my brother and his friends_

He remembered rolling down the small hill. Tears had been burning in his eyes as he heard footsteps running up behind him. But as he buried his face in the tall grass that covered him, he knew he would always remember how that sweet place smelled.

 _And tasted the sweet perfume of the mountain grass I rolled down_

The boy was scooped up into his brother's best friend's arms. They ran to the hospital. None of the boys stayed behind to watch the sunset that night. And when that boy had awoken, he'd seen his brother and his friends, sitting in a small hospital room, dead asleep, passed out waiting for him to wake up. They were laying across each other, sprawled out on laps and chairs and shoulders.

A smile came to the face of a, now, twenty two year old man as he gripped the steering wheel tight in his hands, his brown eyes sparkling as the vehicle took off. It couldn't've been going faster if he wanted it to. There was no hesitation and there was no greater feeling in the world as memories filled his mind. Memories of the things that had made him the man he was today.

 _I was younger then, take me back to when, I found my heart and broke it here, made new friends and lost them through the years_

So many people. His brother had tried to get him to make friends. He taken the advice. And there were so many. The ones who took advantage of his math skills and dropped their work on him. The ones who pushed him around or made him feel inferior. But at the end of the day, these people wouldn't be there anymore and a boy with curly blond hair would pick him up and carry him on his back as they walked home. Or a dark boy with glasses would help him with his homework. Or a boy with a crutch would sit with him and laugh about the behavior of their odd friends. Their odd brothers. And a boy with bright green eyes that never stopped dreaming would lift him up and tell him to watch the sunset over their castle.

 _And I've not seen the roaring fields in so long, I know I've grown_

Oh how he wished he was still nine years old. Running and joking and crying with the people he'd never forget. His big brother would take him to the field on Friday nights and they'd watch the day end and then they'd stay up all night, ignoring angry phone calls and text messages. It was just them.

 _But I can't wait to go home_

The man smiled. He didn't know how fast he was going. Nor did he truly care. Because what lay between him and his destination was too far. It would always be too far, until he was in the arms of those people. Until he was home.

 _I'm on my way, drivin' at ninety down those country lanes, singin' to Tiny Dancer_

Then the memory came of her. Her beautiful, long brown hair. The gentle curves of her body. Those bright blue eyes and the way they looked at him. His first love. The feelings that built up in him as he thought back to those days were inevitable. Impossible to get rid of and the man felt his grin return as he remembered the small, brunette, young romantic that pushed him into her as she passed by.

 _I miss the way you'd make me feel, and it's real_

Yet, even when she hadn't been there, when she walked off with someone else, his friends, his true brothers were there to pick up the pieces as they carried him to their sacred place.

 _When we watched the sunset, over the castle on the hill_

Those nights when some of them couldn't go home would remain in the man's mind forever. There were those boys that would wear sweatshirts all the time and wouldn't take them off until they were on their castle, only letting their friends see the baggage and scars they carried. Only letting their friends hold them as they sobbed because they had no place to sleep or no place to be safe. So the twenty boys would go watch the sunset, staying up all night with their brothers, being idiots and not letting each other be hurt by people who didn't deserve them.

 _Fifteen years old and smoking hand rolled cigarettes_

Oh, the times when his brother wasn't around. The times when the fifteen year old boy with a gambling problem would dare him to take a puff of a stolen cigar or cigarette. And he did. He'd cough and choke afterwards, making all his friends laugh as they patted him on the back, frantically hiding the thing when his tall, brunette brother came back from wherever he'd gone with his best friend.

 _Running from law in the back fields and getting drunk with my friends_

And those nights too. The ones where the red headed boy would grab hold of two others and slip into his silent house, coming back out with beers and snacks before running back to their secret hide out.

It was the first time it had happened, and the look on his big brothers face told him to never do it again. So he slapped his friends in the back of the head later and the boy with the crutch laughed at him, slinging an arm around his shoulders as he began to feel nauseous. But that was not the last time it was revisited.

 _Had my first kiss on a Friday night, I don't reckon I did it right_

Then she waltzed back into his life. He'd only grown up a little bit since last time. He was still too young for that, though, but as Sally pulled him closer to her, it didn't matter.

Afterwards, he knew something had gone wrong. Sally never talked to him again. She avoided him at all costs and to this day he still didn't know why. But that was okay. Because the dreamer with the green eyes picked him up on his back and them and his brother walked all the way back out to that field. And nothing else mattered.

 _I was younger then, take me back to when we found weekend jobs and we got paid, and buy cheap spirits and drink them straight_

His big brother had called them "Bad influences". But his brother's best friend had called them "Trouble kids". And both were true. But that man who had once been a kid had seen them as only one thing. His brothers.

Yeah, he got drunk sometimes when they'd give him a beer and tell him not to drink it all but as they told him stories of the things they'd been through, he found himself unable to stay sober. The thought of anyone having to go through these things scaring him. Especially when it was the people who looked out for him.

 _Me and my friends have not thrown up in so long, oh how we've grown_

It had been years. Far too long. A phone call wasn't enough. After everything these boys had lived through, together, college hadn't been something on the kid's mind. He missed them. Getting drunk with them in the fields and feeling them rub his back when his little body couldn't take it anymore. He missed watching the card games and the wrestling matches and listening to the stories of each of them. It had been far too long since he'd been back.

 _I can't wait to go home_

As they'd left before him, he'd cried. He'd cried for each one of them. Some of them had been gone before. Some of them had had trips to Juvie. Some of them had been in homes where they had to sneak out of their house and if they were caught, they wouldn't be seen for days. But it was different when they'd turned eighteen. It would never be the same.

 _I'm on my way, driving at ninety down those country lanes, singing to Tiny Dancer and I miss the way you'd make me feel, and it's real, when we watched the sunset,_

 _Over the castle on the hill_

His brothers. They'd be different. Never the same wild, reckless, stupid, perfect boy's that he'd known. But they'd still be there. They had to be.

 _One friend left to sell clothes_

Romeo. The hopeless romantic. Still looking for love as he conquered the world.

 _One works down by the coast_

Specs. He still helps kids with their homework. Still teaching them everything they need to know as a teacher down by the coast.

 _One has two kids but lives alone_

Jack. The dreamer who was still trying to rekindle his relationship with a woman whose father forbid their marriage. But they would be together. One day. She still looked at him the same way she had when they'd first met.

 _One's brother overdosed_

Albert. The drinker. He hadn't known him. Only prayed for the day he would meet his baby brother before it was too late. But he'd never gotten the chance.

 _One's already on his second wife_

Race. He still smoked, but he was a flirt for sure. A flirt in an abusive, controlling relationship that he defended till the day she'd left him on the streets, sobbing and alone with nothing but his cellphone and the clothes on his back.

 _One's just barely gettin' by_

Crutchie. The boy who had been to hell and back. He would make it. He always did. The kid was a fighter. And he would be. Till the very end.

 _But these people raised me and..._

Davey. His big brother who would take him to school and make sure he was growing up into a good kid when their parents wouldn't. His big brother who had given him friends forever. His hero.

 _I can't wait to go home_

He pulled the car to a stop. The world seemed to slow down. He was parked in an open field just outside of the city. Over some land, there was something that stuck out of the ground. Something they used to call a castle. And on top of it, holding beers and watching the sunset were around twenty boys. Some had changed. Some looked like they had all those years ago. But it didn't matter. Because the man started running.

 _I'm on my way, I still remember those old country lanes, when we did not know the answers_

Within seconds, his feet were of the ground. These people, these boys had shaped him. They'd raised him when no one else would. And in that moment when he was lifted up into their arms, nothing else mattered.

 _I miss the way you made me feel, and it's real, when we watched the sunset, over the castle in the hill_

His friends handed him a beer. They laughed with him and talked with him, telling him stories of things they'd been through while he was gone and nothing else mattered. Nothing else was relevant as he finally found the place he had been missing for years and years. Then he looked out over the horizon where there were no buildings in his way. The sunset was beautiful.

 _Over the castle on the hill_

"Welcome home, Les." And home it was.

 **This was so much fun to write. I loved it. I don't typically write much about Les but I'm glad I did. He was a lot of fun to write.**

 **Thank You Fanz4life! I love ya, honey! Would've never thought of this on my own! I loved every bit of this and I hope you guys did too! If you have any requests feel free to leave them in the reviews or PM me at any time! I love these requests and I love you guys!**

 **As always, thanks for reading! Make sure to tell me what you liked, what you didn't, what you'd change and what you'd improve by leaving me a review! Love ya fansies!**


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